Abstract

Nicolas Steno, a seventeenth-century Danish Catholic bishop and scientist, is considered a founder of modern stratigraphy and geology for his work on linking modern shark teeth to objects found in rock formations, among many other studies and writings. Steno, whose non-Latinized name was Niels Stensen, gained newfound fame as the inspiration for a Google doodle published on 11 January to mark his 374th birthday. The doodle of the Google logo is a rainbow-colored block letter formation that suggests karst stratigraphic layers chock with fossils and shells. How did Steno end up being honored in this way? “The criteria for selecting a doodle subject are pretty simple: We like to celebrate anything that is geeky, quirky, and artistic,” Google's Jennifer Hom, who drew the doodle, told Eos. “Nicholas Steno happened to be a really geeky and innovative thinker whose work on stratigraphy is also visually interesting. Not only does he relate to our Google culture in that he was a groundbreaking (no pun intended) scientist, his work is also very artistically inspiring.”